Steve Doerschuk: Cardinals' Dockett has come a long way

I can only imagine what it must have been like for Darnell Dockett to lose both of his parents in his early teens.

Steve Doerschuk

My blessed little brother was only 12 when Dad died -- and just 13 when we lost Mom.

It was tough. It happened in the ’70s, and I’m still a little numb. I’m thinking it was a lot tougher on my brother, who is 10 years younger.

Numb, yes, but I don’t feel sorry for us. I thank God to have had wonderful parents as long as we did.

I can only imagine what it must have been like for Darnell Dockett, one of the players I met this week in my Super Bowl walk.

Years before Dockett was a Pro Bowl defensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals, and before he was Kamerion Wimbley’s defensive line compadre at Florida State, he was a mixed-up kid in Decatur, Ga.

He lived in a rough neighborhood. Here’s how rough:

“Within a half-mile radius of where I lived, there were 25 guys around my age,” he said. “These years later, every last one of ’em has been arrested ... every last one.

“I remember being on a plane one time, thinking about them. I wrote down all their names, all the stuff they did.

“A few got killed. A few are in jail right now. I wasn’t in a gang, but we were close. We went out and did everything that didn’t make sense to people.”

His father was out of the picture, just like the fathers of his half-siblings.

“My mom would never say, ‘Stay straight,’ ” Dockett said. “Everything she said included a cuss word. She had to raise three kids ... three different fathers. None of the fathers stayed.”

Such as it was, it was home, until ...

Darnell was 13 when he came home one day to find his mother dead, shot in the head. The killer was never found. Dockett was never the same.

Maybe it wasn’t as bad what happened next, but it was pretty bad. One of the fathers who didn’t stay -- his father -- took him in after the murder and moved him to Maryland. Darnell Dockett Sr., however, had pancreatic cancer.

He died when Darnell Jr. was 14.

Yet something moved within Darnell before the second tragedy.

“Obviously, it wasn’t a blessing that they killed my mom,” he said, “but there was a blessing. My life started developing in a way that ... God had a plan.”

An uncle -- his father’s brother Kevin -- took him in.

It’s a long story, but to make it short, Uncle Kevin straightened him out, made it so the obvious athletic talent anyone will be able to see in Super Bowl XLIII could have a chance to manifest itself.

Uncle Kevin called him “Donny.”

It’s quite a thing to see what is inscribed on Darnell Dockett’s right forearm:

“For believing in me
when no one else would,
When the odds were against me,
beside me you stood,
For being my friend,
brother, confidant and father,
Because of you I know
blood is thicker than water.
Words can’t express my gratitude
nor any amount of money.
From the bottom of my heart,
thank you and I love you,
Donny”

I’m not a tattoo guy, but this one kind of gets you.

steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

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